The Quality of Mercy

Fr Tolhurst is the General Editor of the Newman Millennium Edition (Gracewing and Notre Dame).

Rembrandt’s portrait of The Prodigal Son reminds us not so much of the son, as of the compassionate father. Who would so dare to portray the all-powerful, all-knowing God ? The Catechism says, “Only the heart of Christ who knows the depths of his Father’ s love could reveal to us the abyss of his mercy in so simple and beautiful a way.”[1]

Ezekiel in his ‘discussion’ with God hears, “Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked. . .and not rather that he should turn from his way and live ?“ (Ezek 18:23) The rabbis, when they came to describe how the angels began to sing of the victory of the Israelites at the Red Sea, say that God stopped them with the words, “My creatures are drowning and you wish to sing ?… Do not hate an Egyptian because you were once a stranger in his land.”

The Prodigal Father

Jesus however reveals that God does not simply condone our faults but reaches out to us in love. Pope Gregory the Great meditated on this fact and wrote, “The supreme mercy does not abandon us even when we abandon him.”[2] Yes, he does forbid us to sin, “but once we have sinned does not cease hoping in us to give us his forgiveness.”[3] Such is the Prodigal Father.

How is it that God can continue to love us when we show our hatred to him, not seven times, but seventy-seven times ? We can glimpse an insight in that most un-PC parable of the workers in the vineyard. When the late-comers receive the same as the earliest, the grumbling reaches the ears of the owner who says, “What if I wish to give this last one the same as you ? Am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous? “(Matt 20:14-16)

We judge God by our own standards, but Jesus tells us that we must set these higher. Jesus tells his disciples, “You call me Lord and Master and so I am,” (John 13:13) yet he washed their feet. He was entitled to be served but in saying that he had come to serve, Pope John Paul II says, “he showed a disturbing aspect of God’s behaviour… he puts himself at the service of his creatures.”[4]

We sometimes see Jesus’ actions as persuasive gestures, encouraging us to be merciful, forgiving and kind, which they are. They are not just gestures but expressions of God’s very being. He is that ocean of love and forgiveness which was glimpsed by the patriarchs, experienced by the prophets and kings, sung by the psalmists, but finally lived by the Son. As Portia said, “The quality of mercy is not strained. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven.”

Our Self Respect

Beyond all the wars and rumours of wars that so beset civilisation lies the desire for self-assertion, and self-promotion which is expressed in that very unpleasant phrase ‘me-time’. Potentially it was present at the dawn of creation, but it was nurtured by sin. Newman analysed it brilliantly when he wrote, “They do not look out of themselves, because they do not look through and beyond their own minds to their Maker but are engrossed in notions of what is due to themselves, their own dignity and their own consistency. Their conscience has become a mere self-respect.”[5] It was to free us from this that God wished to manifest himself in the self-abnegation even unto death of his Son.

As Christians we are united with him through baptism into his death so as to rise with him to live no longer for ourselves. But we need to renew the spirit of our baptism by continual contrition joined to the absolution of the Church.

The Need for Contrition

One of the reasons for the decline in the practice of the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation is a loss of an understanding of, and a need for contrition. Newman considered that “the most noble repentance, the most decorous conduct in a conscious sinner is an unconditional surrender of oneself to God – not a bargaining about terms, not a scheming (so as to call it) to be received back again, but an instant surrender in the first case.”[6] We grow a hard shell which we use to protect ourselves from admitting our own wretchedness and our need for God’s mercy. St Dorotheus maintained that the reason for all the problems “is that no one blames himself.”[7]

We need to start by having compassion for the faults of others. We do not often realise how conditioned we are to slander, libel and gossip. We must listen to the voice of St John of the Cross when he says, “The holier a man is, the gentler he is and the less scandalised by the faults of others, because he knows the weak condition of man.”[8] There is even an element of self-interest here because, to quote St Philip Neri, “To be without pity for other’s falls, is an evident sign that we shall shortly fall ourselves.”[9]

We must then get rid of the concept that contrition is somehow unworthy and undignified, which is a legacy of Anglo-Saxon Protestantism. In fact asking for forgiveness “is not a sign of an unhealthy concern with oneself as is sometimes asserted. It rather arises from, and leads to, the discovery that God is love, and that it is by forgiving that he manifests most fully both his love and his omnipotence.”[10] Pope John Paul II pointed out, “The person who knows how to acknowledge the truth of his guilt and asks Christ for forgiveness enhances his own human dignity and manifests spiritual greatness… he does not feel humiliated but rather found again and restored to value.”[11]

In this, the Pope added a dimension to the teaching of St Thomas, that after Confession a person’s state of grace may be greater than before his sin, depending on the depth of his repentance.[12]

Those who have truly repented, says St John Climacus, “after their restoration to health, become physicians, lamps, beacons and guides to all.” In spite of falling “into every pit and being trapped in all the snares.”[13]

If we then tend to reproach ourselves that we have enjoyed our snares then we should be sorry for the offence to God “even if we cannot manage to feel detestation for the pleasure which seduced us. The Lord sees more clearly into the depths of the soul than you can; leave the judging to him.”[14] St Peter of Damascus makes the point that it is always possible to make a new start by means of repentance, “As long as you do not surrender yourself willingly to the enemy, your patient endurance, combined with self-reproach, will suffice for your salvation.”[15]

Our misfortune is that we underestimate God’s loving mercy and so belittle our need for it. It was not without reason that we read, “Restore us to yourself, Lord that we may be restored.” (Lam 5:21)

Faith Magazine

November - December 2008

Related Articles

Among some bleak translations and mistranslations of the Scriptures and the liturgy in the late 20th century, particularly poor was the use of "Happy are they . . . " in place of "Blessed . . . " for Christ’s glorious words in Matthew 5:3-11. "Happy" with its connotations of random good luck as in "perhaps" is no substitute for the beauty and beneficence of "Blessed" ...

I was a little surprised that Fr MacKenzie thinks that I divide reality into the (physically) value-less and the (spiritual) valued. I did not mean to convey that impression, but I have clearly done so! My actual view, as an Idealist, is that material or physical things are the expressions of spiritual reality, so I do not want to make an absolute gap between the two. I do think that cognising and valuing are intertwined, but I suppose they are abstractly distinguishable.

"Lord, what fools these mortals be!" According to Robin Goodfellow – Shakespeare’s fairy narrator – human behavior appears foolish from the outside looking in. The lovers of A Midsummer Night’s Dream chase after one another, each driven by their own desire, trying to have it align with another’s. As Shakespeare says elsewhere, "Love is blind." Love of this sort seems self-absorbed, random and uncertain. And unlike our plays, our lives often don’t end "happily ever after." But on the other hand, who of us can’t relate to this desire? We too are thirsty for connection, affirmation, and purpose.

Achieving a deeper understanding the human person is becoming increasingly important in a culture that no longer recognises the inviolable dignity of every human being. Understanding the objective good that the human person is, through better understanding what the human person is—through his essential definition—we are better capacitated to act rightly in all our dealings with the human person, and so and so accord him his full and proper dignity.

Recently a trio of Elders knocked on my door. They were very young Elders, but poised and smartly dressed. Remembering the warm hospitality that I received in Salt Lake City last October, I invited them in.

We often speak as though it is only marooned Catholics who fight the full defence of chastity in the modern world, but this is not the case. The Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS) is exemplary in promoting family values. Without them, the international fight for life and family would be a lot poorer.